“The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” –

George Orwell.

OUR ATTENTION HAS BEEN DRAWNto a very disturbing notice in the Social Media issued by the Media Assistant to the President of CAN, to the effect that a NEW COORDINATOR has been appointed for the CAN TRUST FUND. This action climaxes the series of manipulations and intrigues set in motion by Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle to destabilize, frustrate, destroy and eventually illegally dismantle the current structure of the CAN Trust Fund and put in place one that would be pliable to him. We wish to place on record that since Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle assumed office as the CAN President, he has not hidden his avowed intention to destabilize the Christian Association of Nigeria by frustrating and dismantling the CAN Trust Fund. Pastor Bosun Emanuel, Secretary/Coordinator of the Trust Fund has in the past written severally to CAN on this subject but it is now clear that Rev Dr Ayokunle has succeeded in misleading CAN on the issue of the CAN TRUST FUND. It has to be noted that all the actions taken under the directives of the CAN President are illegal and unsustainable in law having regard to the actual nature of the TRUST FUND and the involvement of CAN thereto.

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Most importantly, it must be stressed, at this point that the Director, Legal and Public Affairs of CAN, Mr. Samuel Kwamkur has grossly misled CAN on the subject of the Trust Fund. This is professional misconduct and CAN should treat it as such. In his letter of 14th September, 2018 he stated thus:

“That the CAN Trust Fund is a Committee set up by CAN in 2014 in line with the NEC powers under the CAN Constitution.”

This is a bizarre and extremely damaging presentation of simple, verifiable facts. As a lawyer, Mr Kwamkur should have been more diligent in his research before going public with blatant falsehood to the detriment of the apex Christian body in Nigeria.

It is now apparent that neither the President of CAN, the National Executive Committee nor the Legal Director of CAN understand the real meaning of a Trust Fund, in particular the CAN TRUST FUND, its powers and scope of operation under the law. For a better appreciation of the situation, therefore, it will be necessary to set out in full details the nature of the TRUST FUND as conceived, packaged and presented by Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, the role of CAN and the involvement of the NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ELDERS FORUM NCEF therein.

What is CAN TRUST FUND and who initiated it?

The CAN TRUST FUND is a CHARITABLE TRUST under the law. The Charity in its legal sense comprises four principal divisions viz,

i.Trust for the relief of poverty.

ii.Trust for the advancement of religion.

iii.Trust for the advancement of education.

iv.Trust for other purposes beneficial to the community, not falling under any of the three above.

The TRUSTEES of a Charitable Trust have the powers of TENANT FOR LIFE.

The BENEFICIARIES of the Trust are the PERSONS, ORGANISATIONS OR BODIES that have provided the property of the Trust for specific purposes or projects and in the present case, those who have contributed or will contribute in the future, the money to be used by the Trustees for the object of the Trust to the satisfaction of those who contributed and provided the funds.

What is the object of the Trust?

i.To strengthen CAN and make it financially viable and self-sustaining to be able to build rehabilitation centers for displaced victims of Boko Haram, funding for Zonal CAN, State CAN, all Wings of CAN, the Directorates and CAN Secretariat.

ii.Support for churches affected by crisis and rebuild, where possible.

iii.Provide relief materials and support for displaced persons and victims of violence across the country.

iv.Support for the Facilitator/Coordinator and funding of the Trust Fund Secretariat.

v.To enable CAN build a strong base for Christians in politics for the sake of the Church of Christ in Nigeria.

vi.To insulate CAN and its officials at all levels from government pressure and external interference/manipulations.

vii.Savings for the Trust Fund.

Who funds the Trust? Is it CAN?

i.Definitely No. CAN does not and cannot fund the Trust from which it is supposed to receive funding and support.

ii.The Trust is funded by Christian donors nationwide who want to strengthen CAN and the Nigerian Church.

iii.CAN and other listed projects receive funding from the Trust.

Who is to administer the Funds?

i.The Trustees.

Who is to monitor to ensure that the funds are utilized for the purpose for which they were provided?

i.The Trustees.

Who is to run the Fund Secretariat and coordinate the advocacy and fund raising across the nation?

i.To receive funds from the Trust, apply it according to the specific project or purpose and account to the Trust Fund.

Where is the approved office location of the Fund?

i.Lagos and other geopolitical zones of the country.

WHO INITIATED THE TRUST FUND AND HOW?

i.Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, with the later backing of the National Christian Elders Forum, NCEF and not CAN.

ii.CAN did not initiate the Trust Fund. It had no idea of what it is until Pastor Bosun Emmanuel presented his proposal and blue print.

iii.Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, as led and directed by the Holy Spirit, conceived the idea and packaged the programme now known as the CAN Trust Fund as his own project to help promote, sustain, finance and strengthen the Christian Church in Nigeria. CAN was not aware of and did not contribute to the conception and packaging of the idea.

iv.Pastor Bosun, with the consent of the then CAN President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor then presented the Trust Fund Package to the NEC of CAN and explained the concept, target and functioning mode of his proposal.

v.Pastor Bosun’s proposal which CAN accepted was that individual Christians nationwide will be approached and persuaded to contribute a minimum of N500.00 (five hundred naira only) monthly to the Trust Fund.

In that case,

1 million Christians in a month will have put in N500 million,

5 million Christians N2.5 billion and

10 million Christians N5 billion and

thereby CAN will be financially buoyant and independent and the practice of directly or indirectly seeking or being forced to receive patronage from governments and or persons who are hostile to Christ would have been laid to rest; CAN apart from being able to fund its projects and charities being catered for, will be able to sponsor willing Christians into politics.

vi.On the 9th of July, 2014, CAN NEC being convinced, bought into the idea and authorized Pastor Bosun to implement his project with CAN and the NCEF as partners. In effect, the Trust Fund was established on the 9th of July, 2014.

vii.CAN in accepting Pastor Bosun’ s project, proposed 10% of the money contributed to the Fund as Pastor Bosun’s remuneration for initiating and running the project.

viii.Pastor Bosun rejected this outright as being outrageous and in conflict with the Divine inspiration behind the project. Such a situation will undermine the credibility of the Fund and present it as a business venture contrary to God’s direction on its conception.

ix.On the 15th of September, 2014 CAN issued a document signed by the President of CAN and the HEADS of the Blocs of CAN accepting the proposed Trust Fund and mistakenly however, although in good faith, put in conditions and terms that sought to destroy the Trust Fund at inception, (making all the National Officers of CAN, including the President and the Heads of Blocs the Trustees and signatories of the Fund)

x.For instance CAN also proposed 5% of the total contributions as the remuneration and running cost of the Facilitator i.e Pastor Bosun and his team. This Pastor Bosun still rejected and opted instead for a reasonable remuneration to be determined by the Trustees of the Fund. Pastor Bosun personally wrote to the former President of CAN rejecting the offer because he, as the initiator of the project as directed by the Holy Spirit, felt it would create credibility crisis for the project and everyone involved in it. He settled for reasonable monthly emoluments that could be defended as stated earlier. To date, his emolument is yet to be determined by the Trust Fund. He is not on any salary.

xi.Pastor Bosun’s remuneration is yet to be determined. He is not yet on any rated remuneration.

xii.The NCEF drew the attention of CAN to the serious anomalies through Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor the CAN President. CAN readily acknowledged the anomalies and went into deliberations with the NCEF to remedy the situation.

xiii.After the deliberations, CAN and NCEF brought the situation in conformity with the law. CAN nominated the five Bloc Leaders (or their proxies), the CAN President and the General Secretary of CAN. NCEF nominated five Lay Trustees from its Members representing the Five Blocs of CAN in accordance with the letter signed by the CAN General Secretary on the 7th of December, 2015. The following are the Laity Trustees;

These distinguished Nigerians lent credibility and boosted the structure of the Trust Fund and inspired confidence in the Contributors.

xiv.The tenure of the Trustees was not set as the tenure was already determined by law following from the rule that Trustees of a Charitable Trust, as in this case, have the same powers, privileges and tenure as TENANTS FOR LIFE. For the CAN President, Heads of Bloc and the General Secretary, they remain Trustees for as long as they remain in the CAN position in which they were appointed. The Lay Trustees remain Trustees for as long as they remain Members of the NCEF. They can only be removed by the Trust Fund itself by disqualification, resignation or misconduct as recognized by law.

xv.On the 24th of February, 2016 the CAN President inaugurated the CAN Trust Fund and it remained in operation without let or hindrance throughout the tenure of Pastor Oritsejafor.

xvi.The Initiator of the project, Pastor Bosun Emmanuel who is also the Secretary of the NCEF then became the Secretary and Coordinator of the Trust Fund and Head of the Secretariat.

xvii.The Fund was set up in the usual manner of Trusts, in a way that will insulate it from external interference and control of CAN, NCEF or any other unauthorized person as the Fund was to run itself and remain responsible and accountable to the contributors who fund the Trust.

xviii.The Secretariat was then set up in Lagos as approved and takeoff staff were recruited accordingly.

xix.CAN and other charities which are to receive funds and other assistance from the Trust Fund remain accountable to the Trust Fund to the extent of assistance received.

xx.CAN does not and cannot fund the Trust because funding of CAN is one of the objectives of the Trust which must be executed to the satisfaction of the donors.

xxi.The initial funds which started off the Trust were donations raised by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor the then CAN President.

xxii. The NCEF started funding the Trust when Rev Dr Ayokunle who became Chairman of the Trust Fund in September, 2016 on his assumption of office as the CAN President, started deliberately interrupting regular monthly disbursements from the Trust Fund account in order to perfect his grand design to frustrate and eventually dismantle the Trust Fund. But for the financial intervention and support of the NCEF at this point, the Trust would have become moribund long before now.

xxiii.When the Trust Fund was set up, the Corporate Affairs Commission ruled that there will be no separate registration for the Trust Fund because CAN already had Incorporated Trustees and that the Trust Fund was covered by that registration.

xxiv.At the opening of the bank account for the Trust Fund, the banks demanded that the Incorporated Trustees of CAN have to be properly reconstituted according to the Constitution of CAN and the law for the Signatories of the CAN TRUST FUND to be allowed to operate the said accounts. Steps were taken and the specimen signatures of the authorized signatories to the account which include the Chairman of the Trust who is the CAN President, the Vice Chairman Lt Gen Dogonyaro and some of the Laity Trustees and Clergy Heads of Blocs were submitted to the Banks.

xxv.The Banks and particularly the Guaranty Trust Bank, the main account holder, granted a few months dispensation and grace period to the Trust Fund pending evidence of the reconstitution of the Incorporated Trustees of CAN.

xxvi.The dispensation and grace period was renewed by the Bank when the Incorporated Trustees of CAN was not reconstituted as expected.

xxvii.To ensure that the CAN Trust Fund does not have access to operational funding, Dr. Ayokunle refused to comply with Article 22 of the Constitution of CAN that demanded regularization and registration of the new/current CAN President and Heads of Blocs as the Incorporated Trustees of CAN. (The Incorporated Trustees of CAN T are different from Board of Trustees of CAN Trust Fund).

xxviii.The Banks withdrew the dispensation and grace period when it became obvious that there was no effort by the CAN President and the Director Legal to reconstitute the Incorporated Trustees of CAN as required by Law. The operations of the CAN TRUST FUND was nearly grounded to a halt but for the intervention of the NCEF.

Sabotage of CAN and the Trust Fund and attempt to divert the trust funds by Rev Dr Ayokunle, the CAN President and Chairman of the CAN TRUST FUND.

i.It must be stated for clarity that the current CAN President Rev Dr Ayokunle was at all material times the Vice President of CAN when the NCEF and the CAN Trust Fund were inaugurated.

ii.He participated positively in all the deliberations that led to the emergence of the two bodies. He did not at any time show any disapproval or opposition to the setting up of the two institutions.

iii.When the NCEF after its inauguration paid UNITY AND RECONCILIATION ADVOCACY VISITS to the different Blocs and branches of CAN, Rev Ayokunle as CAN Vice President made very positive and encouraging statements about the mission of the NCEF.

iv.On the 25th April, 2015 meeting of the NCEF with CCN in Lagos, Dr Ayokunle as CAN VP and Head of the Baptist Convention, it was reported thus; “The Vice President of CAN Dr Ayokunle…..confirmed that the Nigerian Church has problems due to the promotion of self. He encouraged the Elders Forum to continue on its assignment because there is need for the Laity to confront the Clergy in the Nigerian Church.”

v.On the 12th of May, 2015 when NCEF met the CAN Executives and National Directors in Abuja, Dr Ayokunle as CAN VP led the CAN Team, prayed, encouraged the NCEF and “expressed the hope that the initiative of the Elders Forum shall succeed in strengthening CAN.”

vi.It is a sad experience for CAN, therefore, that the same Dr Ayokunle on his assumption of office as CAN President has vowed to wipe out the NCEF and the CAN Trust Fund for no justification whatsoever.

vii.Was he pretending under Oritsejafor that he stood for the ideals of CAN in promoting these two vital bodies or was he sponsored and compromised by the enemies of the Church to destroy the very house which he appeared to have participated actively in building? Whichever way, his action is disloyal and disastrous for the Church and CAN.

viii.The Report of the UNITY AND RECONCILIATION ADVOCACY VISITS was submitted to the CAN President on the 15th June, 2015.

ix.Most regrettably, Dr Ayokunle as President of CAN and Chairman of the CAN Trust Fund has deliberately refused to consider the Report for the benefit of CAN and the Nigerian Church.

x.Sometime on 27th January, 2017, the Trust Fund released a documentary “I CAN SUPPORT” to mobilize support for the Fund. The Laity Trustees of the Fund were arrested by the DSS and compelled to write statements under caution like common criminal in a bid to stop the circulation of the documentary. The leaders of CAN frowned at the situation and resolved with NCEF on 15th February, 2017 that the CAN President should address a strong worded protest letter to government and DSS demanding an apology and compensation to the arrested Trustees. The letter was drafted in line with the leadership resolution but the CAN President and the Legal Director without the consent of the NEC and the Trustees deleted relevant parts of the said letter and made the Legal Director to sign the letter instead of the President as directed by NEC.

xi.The question now arises why the President of CAN refused to adopt the resolution of CAN and sign the said letter. Is he a collaborator of the enemies of the Church or is he simply cowardly and lacking in the necessary gumption to lead the Nigerian Church?

xii.Refusal to reconstitute the Registered Board of Trustees of CAN. The Incorporated Board of Trustees of CAN fell due for reconstitution after the election which brought Dr Ayokunle and the new Heads of Blocs into office. He was supposed to have taken immediate steps to register the new Heads of Blocs with the CAC in order to fully regularize CAN as a registered institution under the law.

xiii.Knowing fully well that the non-registration of the new Heads of Blocs and himself as the complimentary Trustees of CAN will render the CAN Trust Fund inoperative, Dr Ayokunle and the Legal Director deliberately refused to do the registration despite repeated reminders and pressure from the Trust Fund.

xiv.The Banks eventually stopped honoring cheques from the Trust Fund. And all the funds of the Trust Fund got stuck in the Bank.

xv.Some Effects of the Refusal to Reconstitute the CAN Trustees on the Operations of the Trust Fund.

The Trust Fund approved the sum of N250,000.00 as support and goodwill to the family of abducted Leah Sharibu. The cheque was written but because of the situation created by the CAN President, the cheque will definitely be dishonored by the Bank. The father of Leah Sharibu had started speculating that funds approved for his family by CAN was being withheld, calls had started coming in from outside Nigeria questioning the situation. Realizing the damage such negative publicity would do to CAN, Dr. Ayokunle quickly arranged cash replacement for the cheque and Leah’s father was advised not to present the cheque.

In April, 2018, The Trust Fund approved supply of relief materials to Christian victims of Islamic insurgency in IDP Camps across the country at the rate of One million naira for each of the seven States identified. The cheque was written for the relief materials for Southern Kaduna, Southern Borno. Plateau, Benue, Adamawa, Taraba and Enugu States. The cheque has been lying down at the National Secretariat of CAN since then because it cannot be cashed. Meanwhile Christians are languishing in the IDP Camps and reports have it that many suffering Christian women in the Camps were exchanging sex for food while the CAN President is deliberately and flagrantly frustrating access to the money meant for the purchase of food for these unfortunate Christians.

xvi.An example of Dr Ayokunle’s attempt to divert expected funds from the Trust Fund to some other account was the incident at the Christian Leadership Meeting at the Shepherds Hill Baptist Church Lagos on 7th November, 2017 to promote the Trust Fund. Dr Ayokunle through one of his stooges deliberately displayed a different account number for people to pay in instead of the account number of the Trust Fund.

xvii.Deliberate delay in the drafting of the Rules and Regulations of the Trust Fund. The CAN President/Chairman of the CAN Trust Fund deliberately delayed the consideration of the Draft Rules and Regulations of the Trust Fund in order to frustrate the Fund. It took several months and great expense to review a 14 page simple document. Trustees usually flew in from different parts of the country for the meetings to start between 10am and 11am only for the Chairman Dr Ayokunle to hurry back to the airport between 1pm and 2pm on the grounds that he didn’t want to miss his flight. Some of the time, without the consent of the Trustees but with the active collaboration of the Legal Director and the Clergy Trustees, he brought in non-members of the Trust Fund to participate in drawing the Rules and Regulations knowing fully well that the outcome of such meeting will render the product invalid. When the Laity Trustees drew attention to the anomaly, the Legal Director withdrew but went behind to continue to undermine the Trust Fund.

xviii.Eventually, the Rules and Regulations which were drawn in compliance with the Federal Government approved Not-For-Profit Corporate Code of Governance 2016 were completed and signed by the Chairman Dr Ayokunle on the 9th April, 2018.

xix.Open hostility to the office and person of the Coordinator Pastor Bosun Emmanuel. The open hostility against Pastor Bosun and his office was very embarrassing and totally unwarranted. Dr Ayokunle did not hide his personal disapproval of Pastor Bosun and his office. The Trustees waded in severally to prevent the situation from deteriorating. Dr Ayokunle’s writings to Pastor Bosun most of the time were outright insulting, provocative and humiliating.

xx.Dr Ayokunle refused to sign cheques for the operations of the Trust Fund Office, thereby frustrating and stalling its operations until the Trustees had to intervene.

xxi.After the 9th April 2018 meeting, Dr. Ayokunle deliberately and without justification refused to convene the next quarterly meeting of the Trustees in violation of Section 9a of the Rules and Regulations which he himself signed into effect, all reminders and pressures from the Trust Secretariat notwithstanding. Consequently, he is guilty of misconduct punishable under the guidelines of the Rules and Regulations.

xxii.On 28th February, 2018, Pastor Bosun as Secretary of the Trust Fund addressed a six-page complaint to CAN NEC listing nine deliberate and unwarranted acts of sabotage against the Trust Fund by Rev Dr Ayokunle, Chairman of the Trust Fund, in the hope that CAN which he represents on the Board of the Trust Fund will investigate the allegations and take steps to remedy the situation by calling him to order. Pastor Bosun personally addressed the CAN NEC Meeting and explained the facts to the NEC. Dr Ayokunle thereafter reacted by renewed aggression and deliberate efforts to further destabilize the CAN TRUST FUND.

xxiii.Most regrettably, as revealed in Pastor Bosun’s report to the CAN NEC, as a result of Dr Ayokunle’s sabotage and hostility, the performance of the Trust Fund in 2017 was a dismal 0.019%. The question then is “how can the Trust Fund succeed under such circumstance?” “How can the Trust Fund justify the confidence and patronage of the donors and contributors?”

xxiv.After receiving Pastor Bosun’s report on 28th February, 2018, CAN NEC passed a resolution that the Trustees should investigate the petition. Rev Dr Ayokunle frustrated the investigation and refused to call meetings of the Trust Fund. The investigation could, therefore, not be carried out.

xxv.NEC of CAN met in July 2018 and thereafter, the Acting General Secretary of CAN, Mr. Joseph Daramola, wrote to the Trust Fund Secretary Pastor Bosun stating that the Board of the Trust Fund has been dissolved because the Trustees have spent four years in office.

xxvi.Pastor Bosun replied Mr. Daramola informing CAN that the Trustees who were inaugurated in 2016 couldn’t have spent up to four years by 2018 and that the Board cannot be dissolved in that manner.

xxvii.It is pertinent to state here, that this was the same Mr. Daramola who received a fraudulent gratification of N500,000.00 (five hundred thousand naira only) from Dr Ayokunle’s agents during the questionable purchase of vehicles worth N45 million from Cotonou. He is yet to refund the said gratification/bribe to CAN.

xxviii.The next attack on the Board of the Trust Fund after the July 2018 meeting of CAN NEC was the Press Statement issued by Mr. Samuel Kwamkur the Legal Director of CAN on the 13th and 14th of August, 2018 stating that the Trustees of CAN Trust Fund has been dissolved because the Trustees were involved in Fund Raising for the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN). The statement did not explain how fund raising by an independent and duly registered body affected the CAN Trust Fund. Neither did it explain why the Board of Trustees should be affected.

xxix.Another letter was, therefore, written to CAN faulting the dissolution of the Board of the Trust Fund. The following questions arise from the negative actions of the CAN President:

Was there at any time, any attempt to query or ask Pastor Bosun and the Fund Trustees to explain any alleged involvement with the CSMN?

How could NEC take a decision of this magnitude without fact finding? Is that not evil?

How come the issue was not discussed by the Trustees who exercise oversight on the activities of Pastor Bosun as Secretary/Coordinator?

Why should the issue of fund raising for political mobilization and harmonization of Christians under CSMN, which is different from the goal of CAN Trust Fund to raise funds for persecuted Christians and operations of CAN warrant dissolution of the entire Board of Trustees?

Were the Trustees found to be raising fund with Pastor Bosun for CSMN as against the CAN Trust Fund?

Is there any regulation or policy that hinders Pastor Bosun from holding another office in the Church and fulfilling the obligations of that other office(s) which do not in any way compromise the objects of the CAN Trust Fund?

xxx.Pastor Bosun wrote again to CAN on this second purported dissolution of the CAN Trust Fund Board of Trustees.

xxxi.Not done with the determination to dissolve the Trust Fund Trustees, another letter was issued by the CAN Secretary to the effect that Dr. Ayokunle the CAN President will on a particular date inaugurate a new Board of Trustees for the CAN Trust Fund.

xxxii.A Lawyer therefore wrote to CAN referring to the illegality and advising CAN not to proceed with the said illegal inauguration. Surprisingly, it was reported that that in the October, 2018 CAN NEC Meeting a resolution contradictory to the February, 2018 resolution was passed, sponsored by the CAN President, to the effect that a new Board of Trustees will be inaugurated while the Trust Fund still had a legally constituted Board of Trustees.

xxxiii.One very crucial fact which attacks the credibility and sincerity of CAN NEC in all these is that throughout the said proceedings and meetings of the NEC Rev Dr Ayokunle presided in the deliberations on all the accusations against him.

xxxiv.In a civilized and highly rated organization like CAN, can the CAN President be a judge in his own cause? Will that not undermine as it has already done all the deliberations and conclusions of the NEC?

xxxv.CAN must immediately take direct action to redeem and restore sanity and probity in the leadership of CAN in the Nigerian Church.

xxxvi.The Church and indeed all Christians need to be reminded that in June 2018, Pastor Bosun delivered a paper at the Annual Conference of Catholic Men’s Guild calling for restructuring of CAN. We wish to reiterate that call. If Christians and indeed CAN cannot be bold enough to call its officers to order and overhaul CAN, the consequences for Christianity in Nigeria shall be disastrous.

CONCLUSION:

1. The Trustees of CAN Trust Fund inaugurated on 24th Feb. 2016 is still legally in office.

2. The purported appointment of Trustees and Coordinator in October 2018 by NEC is not only a contradiction of an earlier NEC Resolution but it is illegal and destabilizing to the objectives of CAN and Trust Fund. Consequently, they are null and void.

3. The Nigerian Church must be bold to re-organize CAN. Christians cannot be calling for restructuring of Nigeria yet leave their apex body in a state of confusion wallowing in illegality and coruption.

4. CAN should not take the commitment of Christians not to litigate issues concerning the Church for granted. All the spurious actions of the CAN President and his cohorts are actionable in law and CAN should take immediate steps to prevent aggrieved persons from taking legal action in civil courts over issues which can be resolved in the House of God.